This invention generally relates to partition structures and more particularly to a collapsible and portable partition structure defining compartments capable of shielding occupants from moving objects, such as baseball players from baseballs.
The invention is especially concerned with a partition structure defining compartments for protecting occupants in the compartments from baseballs. The structure must be able to accommodate several batters at once and may be both portable and collapsible. Conventionally, batting cages completely surround a batter so that batting practice may take place within the cage, without hit baseballs exiting the cage and harming property or persons in the nearby area. Batting cages are typically large, allowing for the full 60 foot 6 inch distance from the pitcher, or pitching machine, to the batter to be completely enclosed within the batting cage. As such, batting cages are not typically portable, and if they are portable, often require more than one or two persons for transport to and from a baseball practice area, such as a field.
Also conventionally, backstops protect areas behind and to the sides of the batter's box. Such backstops are useful for conducting baseball games, as they arrest movement of foul balls, wild pitches or errant throws to home plate. For practice, however, such backstops are limited because they provide a protected area for only one set of players to practice pitching, batting, fielding and/or catching. Portable backstops are also known in the art, but similarly suffer from the drawback of being usable with only one batter at a time. A portable structure providing multiple batters and pitchers with a safe area to practice simultaneously, without concern for balls hit or thrown by other players, would provide a substantial benefit over configurations known in the art.